Bluetooth v. Wi-Fi

Can someone educate me on the differences between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and/or refer me to some online resources for further reading?

This from Bluetooth vs. WiFi: Why it's NOT a death match by David Coursey, published in ZDNet (http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2868374,00.html)

Speed: Bluetooth operates at about 720kbps, WiFi at 11mbps--a big speed difference. Bluetooth is too slow for video transfers, and probably too slow to move a bunch of large images off a digital camera. And you wouldn't connect a hard drive to your computer using Bluetooth--not if you're smart.

Applications: Bluetooth is a cable replacement, designed to connect devices point-to-point. WiFi is designed to hook up an entire network; it can be used to connect one computer directly to another, but that's not its real purpose. Yes, there will be Bluetooth access points to bridge the two networks, but they won't be the best choice in most applications. And there are already WiFi wireless print servers--I have one from Linksys--that work just fine.

Security: Bluetooth is probably--emphasize probably--a bit more secure than WiFi. For one thing, Bluetooth is designed to cover shorter distances than 802.11b; if someone hacks your Bluetooth network, how much damage can they do? Print to your printer? Also, Bluetooth offers two levels of (optional) password protection. WiFi has all the security risks associated with other networks: Once someone has access to one part, he or she can access the rest.

Ease of use: Bluetooth devices "advertise" their capabilities to others, and a single device can be connected to up to seven other devices at the same time. This makes it easy to find and connect to the device you are looking for or to switch between devices, such as two printers. WiFi is more complex; it requires the same degree of network management as any comparable wired network.

Power: Bluetooth has a smaller power requirement than WiFi, and devices can be physically smaller, making it a good choice for consumer electronics devices.

Compatibility: Bluetooth and WiFi share the same band of frequencies and could, therefore, interfere with one another. For a variety of technical reasons, Bluetooth is more likely to interfere with WiFi than vice versa. But while I haven't rigorously tested my own set-up for interference, so far I've been able to run Bluetooth and WiFi devices right next to one another without any noticeable problems. I'm going to keep looking, however.

BOTTOM LINE: Bluetooth is the choice for connecting single devices when speed isn't a major issue; it's best suited to low-bandwidth applications such as sharing printers, syncing PDAs, using a cell phone as a modem, and (eventually) connecting appliances to one another within a 30- to 60-foot range.

Bluetooth isn't a good replacement for all cables, including USB and 1394/FireWire connections. It's not a great way to connect high-bandwidth devices, such as external drives or digital video cameras and computers; nice as it would be, Bluetooth is probably not a good choice for downloading stills from your digital camera to your PC. And WiFi is the best choice for connecting your computers to one another and to the Internet.

If I could only have WiFi or Bluetooth, then Bluetooth loses. But it's not an either/or thing. The two wireless protocols do different things. As more Bluetooth devices come to market, I believe most of us will eventually have some of both. Just be glad you don't have to commit to one or the other right now.

Bluetooth is a 'shortwire' replacement for the mass of cables we use to connect 'personal' devices so they can share information. These personal devices are portable PCs, mobile telephones & headsets, PDAs, digital cameras, MP3 players and so on. As Bluetooth develops, we will see more enabled devices, particularly around the home.

WiFi is the 'longwire' (network cable from desk to hub/server) wireless replacement technology. It is designed to allow users to log onto an office/business network without the need to physically attach via a network card. As long as the user has network access rights, they should be able to log on to the network from anywhere within the network area (building or site). It simplifies the network infrastructure as physical cabling is only needed to connect the wireless access point to a hub or server. By removing physical cabling, costs can be saved, and there is less physical structure to fail / troubleshoot. It also increases the flexibility of the workforce in being able to go anywhere within the network but remain connected.

The trade-off - In a shared environment where both WiFi and Bluetooth are operating concurrently, Bluetooth will loose some of its available bandwidth to the WiFi system. It is not 'chopped' but declines between 17 - 22 % (max).

So you'd use Bluetooth for syncing and WiFi for network capability.

[scarletk]

Has anyone with axim x5 400mhz, pocket pc 2002

have not been able to active synch or access the internet via bluetooth using Network access

or personal network access

[jb2001]

Bt networking is a pain in the arse, the easy way is buy wifi or a bt network access point. in general peer2peer bluetooth networking is a non-event.

The best way to activesync via bluetooth is to set up a bluetooth com port on your a/sync machine and then setup a/sync to look at the bt com port (com6), then connect your axim to the pc's com port and activesync should do the rest.